EDIT:Okay so I thought I'd do a proper review now. What Trav said summed up what I thought on first listen however my opinions have shifted quite a bit since then.

I have a big problem with the title. It reminds me of "Best Friends" by The Janoskians and subsequently "F**king Best Song Everrr" by Wallpaper. Obviously they didn't mean this on purpose but it bugs me whenever I hear this as I instantly think of those two awful songs which possibly lowers the enjoyment I get from this.

To the song itself; it sounds a little different to their usual selves and is an improvement on the previous three singles. I'm glad they didn't use any na na na parts in this like they have done in previous songs. However ever since about a week after first listen I've started to tire of this quite a bit. Considering that this is happening I can only imagine what my thoughts of it will be in say a year after first listen. I'm not going for 2 stars yet but I'm certain it will happen in the next 6 months.

Hopefully the next single of theirs is something that makes me think they are deserving of such a big name in not only music but pop culture in general and deserving of such a massive fanbase which seems to be catered mainly to the one demographic. This is yet another song by them which I'm putting in the not worthy of its success bin. I think I'll be waiting a while for something as good as "One Thing" or "What Makes You Beautiful" or something that is at least likeable. Hoping this deservedly drops out of the chart soon and I hope their upcoming album is nowhere near as successful as the previous two.

EDIT 2: Whenever I hear this I get the urge to switch it off immediately as it gets annoying and tiring quickly. Down to 2 stars now. The worst song I have heard from the album.

P.S. Funnily enough I quite enjoy "Story Of My Life" so I didn't end up waiting a while :P Last edited: 28.11.2013 04:10

**Was expecting worse (particularly because I too thought it would be a cover of Wallpaper's song), but this isn't too bad. But I could see it wearing out quickly, not that it impacted strong on me to begin with.

Not the best song ever, but nowhere near the worst ever.

EDIT: With more time, I've come to realize how dumb this is.

Overall, I don't mind the sound of it, but it is lyrically horrible and just not a good song.

***The play icon was pressed and the anticipation was high. How would the best song ever play out?Well from the opening notes it was underwhelming. In fact, there was no buzz throughout the song. Just the realisation that they've just gone back to their crappier kind of material.Actually that's a bit harsh. Realising that this will never be the "best song ever", I could say that this could be a grower. 3*

**And it's anecdotal time! Well I heard 'What Makes You Beautiful' in the supermarket earlier today and I remember immediately having that initial 'urgh' but I came to the realisation that perhaps the fanbase brought in by this song may not otherwise have had such an interest in music. Analysing that point, the assumption lies that One Direction have pretty much become the biggest thing since sliced bread in the pop music world and have conquered all before them. However, due to their mostly specific target market, it is fair to say that they haven't exactly been THE most successful artist on the charts of late (not that it's about that, the effect they've had on pop culture is fairly significant; in the meantime, while they've had five top 10 hits in Australia, the only one of these that perhaps exemplifies their status in pop culture is 'What Makes You Beautiful' in that it seemingly captured everyone's attention, as opposed to the regular fans). But then there's the opinion that they're only popular because of their marketing appeal; I find this slightly misguided because at least they've had the one huge hit that has proven to be genuinely catchy and popular among a large majority of the music-buying market, many of which wouldn't comply with this presumption. So in a nutshell, they have a cult following that will guarantee some extent of success but if the song is able to gain enough momentum, it may or may not be accessible to the everyday public as well. So yeah I believe this theory to be true, and now on to the rest of my review.

They've now gone and released a song which has a title that I have a problem with. I mean, it's obviously not incidental, because music charts history tells us that it's been done before (see Kylie Minogue's 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', Timomatic's 'Incredible', Iyaz's 'Replay'; note I'm not being subjective here as I still like 'Replay'). The problem being that the song title is carefully crafted out of a specific lyric or concept in the song but basically allows people to infer the meaning onto the song itself. To me at least, the three examples I provided are what I've found from this strategy, whether or not it exists is a whole different question, that's just my observation :) In any case, these three examples also, to an extent, they're subtle in their approach because it's not exactly obvious to say that it's Iyaz's song you'll eventually have on replay or Kylie's song that will render you incapable of getting it out of your head. In this instance, subtlety clearly isn't One Direction's strong suit as it's so easy for a stan or even just a regular music buyer to think that this could possibly be the best song in existence, go out and buy it, and then actually believe that it is based upon pure emotion driven up by this strategy.

Despite all this angering me, this is a song and not an amalgamation of marketing ploys. It certainly sounds like they've tinkered with a winning formula, risky? Probably not, there's enough catchiness in this for people to enjoy it. However I find it to be cluttered and it doesn't flow particularly well. The vocal effects are quite overbearing and make it a bit hard to listen to. The clip is obviously a whole different story, and I don't want to talk about it. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a song called 'Best Song Ever', but unfortunately I can't get to that stage. I can barely tolerate it. 2.25Last edited: 25.07.2013 13:10

***I do admire this song in its cleverness somewhat. What they do with the chorus is a pretty clever way of justifying meaningless hooks; this is the one time that they're excused for going 'oh! oh! oh!'. There's definitely potential somewhere, but the record falls flat in other parts.

Part of the problem comes from the fact that musically it's still treading an increasingly tiresome angle, and it's taken a mere few listens to start to get boring. Random choppy soundbites keep coming through but I question their value, and the melody I don't think is very strong at all. 2.5

***Fun music video and initially would have gone for a 4 but agree this gets old quick. They don't seem to be progressing like other boybands did at similar points in their career ie they seem content to remain very kid/teen orientated. I can't see their 'Back For Good','I Want It That Way' or 'Stay Another Day' a universal track loved by all ages and both genders that breaks out of the teen demographic and reaches across all persons. 'Beautiful' as huge as it was doesn't (unless I'm mistaken) appeal to an adult audience on the whole and they don't seem in any rush to expand the fanbase and mature their themes/sounds/lyrics. Best British Video at The Brits 2014.

8th UK top 10. 28 weeks in the UK top 100.

UK#2.Scotland#2.Ireland#2.Portugal#11.Bulgaria#22.

South Korea#11.

1 week Canadian top 10. Canada#2.1 week US top 10. US#2.

Brazil#8.

2 weeks top 10. World Chart#3.World Chart Year End (2013): #41.

The biggest selling boyband single of 2013 in the US.

600,000 copies sold in the UK.1 million copies sold in the US.Last edited: 06.04.2018 21:15

**If presenting a songtitle like this you'd better come up with the best song ever indeed. Ouch ... this ain't ...Funny video though. One Direction is super cute after all, right? Song is rather thin and more of the same-already-heard.

***I remember seeing this on preorder and was asking myself why One Direction would release a song called "Best Song Ever". Originally I found it really cocky of them to call it that despite not hearing the lyrics.

Anyway, on to now. It's okay, but incredibly average. Again it uses the same pop formula they've always gone for in previous efforts of theirs. All in all, I don't love it but I don't particularly hate it, and though it's not one of their best, it's not their worst and it's tolerable.Last edited: 27.09.2014 03:34